A Korean American immigrant who acts as a professional reciter, or "diseuse," working through the difficulties of language and memory. Educated in a private Catholic school, she experiences profound alienation while learning French and English, feeling that her spoken words are recitations belonging to others. She writes letters to her mother, translates phrases as if doing homework, and watches films in dark theaters to understand her displaced identity.

A 17-year-old Korean revolutionary and patriot during the early-20th-century independence movement against Japanese imperial rule. She travels between locations to organize the March 1, 1919 protests against the colonial government. Her refusal to reveal information to military police makes her a national hero and an enduring symbol of resistance.

The narrator's mother, a Korean exile who moves to Manchuria, China, at the age of 18 to escape the Japanese occupation of Korea. She works as a teacher in a small village where speaking her native Korean is outlawed, forcing her to speak it only in secret. She later immigrates to the United States to protect her children from political instability, facing suspicion from immigration authorities despite becoming a naturalized citizen.

A late-19th-century French nun who lives in a convent and writes extensively about her faith. Raised by her father and older sisters after her mother dies when she is four, she suffers from physical illnesses and turns fully toward religion. She views her religious devotion as a form of pure love, even creating a wedding invitation for her symbolic marriage to Jesus.

The Greek goddess of the harvest who rebels against the patriarchal order of the gods. When her daughter disappears into the underworld, she refuses to accept the loss passively, bringing famine to the earth until Zeus intervenes. Her actions initiate the Eleusinian mysteries and represent an active, matriarchal force of resistance.

Demeter's daughter and the goddess of spring, whose time is split between the earth and the underworld. She serves as a mythological symbol of exile, living as an immigrant in a strange land after her forced marriage to Hades. Her eventual return brings life and renewal to the natural world.

A woman who receives fragmented, disjointed correspondence from various people. She is trying to locate a missing man and also receives distressing handwritten news from an anonymous friend regarding her sister's declining mental health and threats of suicide.

The current occupant of an apartment previously rented by a missing man. Smalls writes to inform an inquiring woman that the previous tenant has moved away, leaving no forwarding address or method of contact.

A missing man who has recently moved out of his apartment. He leaves behind individuals who are trying to track his whereabouts through postcard inquiries.

The narrator's brother, who argues fiercely with their mother over his desire to join a massive student protest in South Korea in 1962. He wears his school uniform during the confrontation, standing before the door and pushing his mother away so he can participate in the political demonstrations.

A devoted child who travels far from home in search of medicine for her severely ill mother. Exhausted by her journey, she rests by a well where she encounters a mysterious figure who provides her with the tools needed to heal her family.

A magical, savior-like figure who provides water, medicinal herbs, and a ten-pocketed basket to a traveling child. She instructs the child on how to heal her mother and gives her a final, tenth gift before abruptly vanishing from sight.

The French national hero and martyr who serves as an idealized symbol of religious and nationalist sacrifice. Her performative martyrdom heavily influences the spiritual aspirations of nuns and artists featured in the text, with actresses and saints alike dressing in her armor.

The disowned seventh daughter of King Ogu in Korean mythology. Raised in secret by monks after being cast into the ocean, she eventually traverses the underworld to retrieve medicine for her dying royal father, becoming the first Korean shaman due to her ability to cross between the lands of the living and the dead.